Basic Cheese Quiche

It's December Potluck at I Heart Cooking Clubs. I've picked a quiche recipe and a flaky pie crust recipe from Mark Bittman's  How to Cook Everything. This is my basic "go to" book when I'm looking for a basic recipe. I love the instructions and explanations that make the recipes almost full proof.  There is still room for human error as I will explain.
 
The pie crust is made with the help of a food processor, but realizing that not everyone owns one, Bittman suggests alternative methods. In the past, I've used a pastry cutter or two knives to mix the flour and butter. Bittman describes a mixing method using your hands, "...cut cold butter into bits and rub it and the flour very quickly between your fingers, picking it up, rubbing it and dropping it."  He further explains the basic principal of making a flaky crust. Of the methods I've tried, using your hands is the most fun and this will probably be the method I use in the future.
 
For the filling, you have a choice of milk, cream or half & half. You also have your choice of cheeses. I added some  pre-cooked broccoli to the filling for added color and nutrition. Even though I used a deep dish 9" pie pan, I had too much filling. You would have thought that I would have respected the law of physics, but alas, I didn't want to waste a bit of the rich cheese filling. I soon realized my mistake as the filling spilled over the edge of the crust.

Oh well. I wiped up the mess. I still had a full quiche. It was delicious. My older daughter said it was the best quiche I had ever made and the only one she ever liked. (Gee, I always thought she like the dish. Who Knew?)

 You can find the recipes in How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, page 743 and 686. I couldn't find a link to the recipe on-line, but this is a worthwhile book to own or borrow. Check out what other delicious dishes other cooks made for the December potluck at IHCC.  

TWD & BWJ: Pizza Rustica

 Between the hand mixed crust and my first attempt at a lattice crust, my pizza was quite rustic looking.  Our baking hosts for this treat are Emily and Raelynn.  Follow their links to find the recipe.  Or alternately, buy or borrow the book, Baking with Julia.

I usually try to stick to the recipes as they are written. Because I keep a kosher kitchen, I knew from the get-go that I would have to substitute a vegetable or two for the prosciutto. The rules of keeping kosher forbid the use of any pork or the mixing of meat and milk products. Many fellow TWD bloggers had some excellent suggestions for veggie substitutes. In the end, I went with sauteed sweet onions and roasted red peppers because I like them and they were close at hand.

I was worried about the sweetness of the crust. I am not usually a sweet & salty girl and I wasn't at all sure how this would play with the family. I thought about taking out the sugar or at least cutting the amount, but because part of the BWJ challenge is trying new recipes, what would be the point?  I would try the sweet crust and if I didn't like it, so be it.  I could change it the next time.

I have to say I loved, loved, loved this crust.  It's the best crust I've ever made. Eventhough I don't own a food processor, this was easy enough to make by hand. My older daughter thought the sweet crust complimented the savory filling, but my husband thought the crust was too sweet. At first, I wasn't crazy about the sweet/savory combo. But when I had leftovers cold the next day, I thought the sweet crust complemented the savory very well. Maybe it has to do with the temperature of the pizza. I will definitely be making this again.